The 54-year-old Gillen, an investor in small banks, had campaigned for months for change at People's, in which his R.C.G. Kingston fund has a 5% stake. He was particularly unhappy about People's investment strategy and the thinness of its equity, and he had been urging the company to sell out. He even sponsored a shareholder revolt in an attempt to place new directors on the board, but he lost his bid by a small margin.